


We're brothers

by Maeve_Lynn



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Brothers, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Nightmares, post-Skandia, warmweed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_Lynn/pseuds/Maeve_Lynn
Summary: It's been a long time since Gilan visited Will and Halt. When Halt is away, his ex-apprentice looks after Will. The two get along well, yet the traumas from Skandia are still present. When he gets anothter set of nightmares, Gilan has to find out how to help Will.
Relationships: Gilan & Will Treaty
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	We're brothers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [and_crowley_lives1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/and_crowley_lives1/gifts).



> A fanfic about Gilan and Will. I tried to make it fluffy, yet in turned into angst and later on in hurt/comfort.  
> I hope you'll enjoy it and that it shows some nice brother vibes.
> 
> Love, Mel

The sun was at her highest position, enlightening the land beneath her. A soft, warm breeze made the branches move slowly from left to right. The laughter of children playing on the fields reached the ear of the man. He looked up, seeing them becoming little dots as he rode further. He shifted his gaze to his left, seeing the wheat moving by the breeze as well. Riding on the main road, he passed a lot of fields on which men and women worked. Soon, it’d be time for lunch and he could already see how the women left to their houses and how the men finished the last work before taking their children inside.

It would take some time before he would get some lunch, but the man’s stomach already protest with that idea. In all honesty, he wasn’t that hungry at all. Thinking of that, he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

_It’ll be alright, really._

He didn’t pay attention to his horse, but searched the small, hidden path to get to the forest. Once in the shadows, the man got the cap off and made his horse stop.

_What’s wrong? It is of no use to stop. You have to go there, you know that._

The man swallowed and sighed. His horse was right, he had to continue. And so he did.

“Are you sure it will be alright?” Halt asked, saddling his horse.

Gilan was leaning against the stable, looking at him, his head slightly tilted.

“Yeah, I think we will be alright. No need to worry, Halt.”

He was actually surprised by the concerned look on his ex-mentor’s face. The grumpy expression was replaced with worry and the Ranger looked at the cabin. Or well, at the wall that was connected to the cabin.

It made Gilan a bit uneasy, seeing how… nervous Halt was reacting. But that wasn’t very odd, seeing the fact that he was called for a problem in the other part of Redmont Fief. It meant he had to leave for a couple of days, yet the thought of leaving Will all on his own?

He shook his head. No, the boy wasn’t alone, not at all, but it had been months since his two apprentices had seen each other and he knew that Gilan still struggled with a lot himself. It was the reason why it had taken so long for the Merric Ranger to come all the way to Redmont to visit them.

“Halt?”

Gilan’s voice made his thoughts vanish into thin air and he saw an anxious expression.

“Yeah?” he replied, his mind still half in the upcoming mission and the problems it might give Will.

“Did you tell Will you’ll go away?”

Slowly, Halt lowered his hands and stared at Abelard. All of sudden, the atmosphere became more tense and Gilan didn’t like it. He looked over his shoulder, thinking that Will might be there. To his relieve, the boy wasn’t.

“I… I haven’t. I didn’t know how to tell him. He was so happy to see you again after all these months and I didn’t want to break that happiness.” He fell silent and continued after a deep sigh. “It’s been the first time he was truly happy, in months. I couldn’t take that away from him.”

He looked up and met the eyes of his ex-apprentice.

“Halt, I-”

A sudden gasp made them both turn towards the door. There, still dressed in his nightclothes, Will was looking horrified at them. His eyes went from Gilan to Halt, then to Abelard and he then realized the horse was prepared to leave. If that wasn’t a clear hint, he also saw that Halt had tied his bedroll and saddlebag to the saddle, as well as an extra quiver, filled with arrows.

Carefully Halt made it towards Will, but terrified by what he had seen, the apprentice ran back inside and hid underneath his blankets.

“Will!” Halt said, but his words were carried away by the wind.

He hurried after Will, but stopped at the doorframe of his bedroom.

“Will?” he said once again, but this time very carefully, not wanting to scare him even more.

When he noticed two brown eyes looking at him, he pushed the curtain aside and sat down. He didn’t haste to tell what he wanted to say, but waited until Will had taken the blanket off his face.

After a couple of minutes, he felt how Will laid his head against his leg, the unspoken sign between them that he would listen.

At the same time, Gilan was waiting outside with Abelard. He felt that there was something going on and although he wanted to know what exactly, he also knew it wasn’t the easiest thing to start about. He hadn’t had find time to talk with Halt, or, he thought, maybe I just don’t want to know it.

Yes, he knew that Will had had a very difficult time in Skandia and that terrible things had happened there. But what? He didn’t know. He only knew that Will had to do a lot of heavy work and that he would be punished for not doing it correctly. But yet again, he wasn’t aware what the Skandians had done to the poor lad.

When he heard the front door opening and closing, he walked out of the stable with the horse and gave the reigns to his mentor. He stood silently at a slight distance, looking how Halt embraced Will and gave him a kiss on his forehead. Then, he turned around and walked to Gilan, embracing him as well.

“Please, take good care of him. He’ll need you.”

After that, he let go of him and mounted his horse. With a slight tug, he turned Abelard’s head into the direction of the forest. Looking back one last time, he saw how Gilan had moved over to Will, standing next to him with an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

Some time later, Will was practising with his bow. While Gilan watched him closely, Will pulled the string back and a few seconds later the arrow hit the target. For a split second, the boy lowered the bow and instantly regretted it.

“Will, don’t push yourself too much. If you want to take a break, you may. We can continue later on,” his friend said.

He had seen the little movement and knew that the boy’s muscles were tired.

“I’m not tired,” he got as reply. “Just needed a breath, that’s all.”

The boy hoped he sounded confident enough, but that got crushed when he saw the Ranger approaching him and laying a hand on the bow, yet he didn’t take it away.

“It’s been enough for today, Will,” he said, his voice low and gentle. “You’ve been working hard. You should rest.”

Even though he had tried to be calm and gentle, the boy became angry and tried to get the man’s hand off his weapon.

“No, I didn’t do enough! Give it back!” he said, raising his voice.

He pulled and wiggled, yet the hand was firmly holding onto the wood. Gilan knew about Will’s outbursts, and also that it wasn’t on purpose.

The evening before he left, Halt had told him about the outbursts. Shortly, he had explained that it was an aftereffect of what had happened, leaving out it had to do with the warmweed. Therefore, Gilan didn’t have an idea what the actual cause was, but he didn’t dare to ask about it. He saw how much it hurt Halt and he didn’t want to make it more painful than it already was.

After a silent fight of several minutes, Will lost his energy and slowly calmed down. As so often, the anger outburst was followed by one of crying and he fell on the ground, his face hiding in his hands.

Loud sobs filled the clearance and it was a heart breaking eye sight for the Merric Ranger as he laid the bow aside and crouched down next to him.

“I’m sorry Gilan, I didn’t m-mean to be angry,” he whispered.

Seeing that he had given up, Gilan pulled the boy in an embrace.

“It’s okay Will, I know you didn’t mean to. And don’t be sad about not training. You’ve made a huge process already. Halt told me all about it and you are getting better and better with the day. You shouldn’t push yourself. It’s better to take it easy and small steps then going too far and make yourself even more tired.”

The sobs eventually became less and less until Will was sniffing. His head hurt as did his eyes. He hated when this happened, but it was so hard to control it. He was just glad that Gilan seemed to understand it and did the right thing.

“What do you think about getting up, getting something nice for lunch and a small nap? I could make you those pancakes you love so much.”

First he thought that Will started to cry again, but he saw how he looked up, his eyes as big as those of puppy’s.

“Pancakes? From J-Jenny?”

“Yes Will, according to Jen’s recipe and with some delicious berries on top of them. I think Halt left you some strawberries.”

The apprentice glanced at the cabin and nodded.

“Pancakes with strawberries, I love that,” he said, while licking his lips at the thought of eating them.

After the delicious lunch, Will headed to bed. He had been doubting if he should stay awake, yet he knew Gilan would see right through him. No, it was better to get to bed and try to get some sleep. The previous night was abruptly interrupted with Halt leaving, something Will hadn’t prepared for. Although sent to bed for more sleep, he had been restless and couldn’t get more rest. He had been staring at the ceiling until Gilan had walked into his room to get him out of bed for some breakfast.

Now, the boy was dressing up in his nightclothes and sat down on the blankets. He started shivering and his teeth chattered. Quickly, he laid underneath the warm blankets and curled himself up, trying to stay more warm. It didn’t take long before he was in the dream realm.

_He was working hard, training with his bow. Halt was standing behind him, just as Gilan was. Looking at his left, he saw Horace and Evanlyn approaching, while the Rangers left them alone. It started with chatting and laughter, but soon, the atmosphere changed. Dark clouds appeared and in the distance, Will saw fire. He had to save his friends._

_While turning around to shout at them to get away, he saw that Horace had run after the Rangers to warn them, while Evanlyn stayed with him._

_Then, screaming could be heard and all of sudden the clearance had changed into a bridge, the one he had burned down. No, he didn’t want to relive this again! He turned around on his heels, but a firm hand made he couldn’t move._

_Blinking, he was now on a ship, Halt standing on the coast._

_“I’ll find you Will! No matter where they’ll take you!”_

_No, no! He wanted to go to Halt, he could go to his mentor, but the girl-_

_A few seconds later, they were in Skandia, as slaves. He had been ordered to break the ice over and over again, but with every turn of the paddle, water slashed over him. He shivered. It was cold, so, so cold. He… he had to stop. Get a breath from the hard work._

_“What do we think we’re doing? Get back to work you!” a Skandian shouted, raising his hand in which was the whip. Will backed up, crawled away from him, but it was of no use._

_“I’ll show what we do with slaves who don’t listen,” he barked, his words followed by moving air on the poor boy’s back._

“NO!” Will screamed, sweat drops falling down from his forehead. He was shaking tremendously, mumbling words and begged to let it pass, just for once.

Gilan had been working on a report when he heard the screaming. He dropped the quill, making a huge mark of ink on the parchment, but he didn’t care. Right now, Will needed him more.

He sprinted to his friend’s bedroom, which used to be his, and laid a hand on Will’s hand, forgetting that that triggered him more.

“N-no! Don’t hurt me, please!” the poor boy begged, trying to cover himself with the blanket.

“Will, it’s me. I’m not going to hurt you,” Gilan’s voice was gentle and soft, yet it didn’t reach the apprentice.

“G-Gil- gone. Away. C-Celtica…” At this point, Will had a lot of thoughts going around in his head and it made it only worser. He didn’t know what was real and what not. What he should believe and what not. He turning and twisting all the time, making Gilan very worried.

He had to find a way to calm him down, but he didn’t know how. Touching was clearly a bad idea, yet he couldn’t leave Will alone, trashing around.

Then, an idea came up in his mind. He stood up and hurried outside, looking around and scanning the clearance. The horses, who had been standing in the meadow, looked at him, asking what on Earth was going on.

After a couple of minutes going around, Gilan found what he was looking for. He took it inside and held it in front of Will’s nose.

“Will, do you remember this smell?” he asked, not sure if it’d work.

At first, Will didn’t listen and continued, but then the frowned. That smell… he recognized it. He followed his nose and sniffed at the flower.

“Flower… yellow one… clearance,” he mumbled.

Encouraged by this, Gilan sat down on the floor in front of him.

“Yes, the yellow ones Will. You like this ones a lot, right? Halt always has them around in the house and… and you also got a small bouquet when you went to dance with Alyss, in your first year. Do you remember that? Getting them to give it to her as a small present?”

The frown become deeper. No, he didn’t remember that, or wait-

_“What are you doing boy?” Halt asked, watching curiously at his apprentice._

_“Getting flowers,” was the simple reply._

_Halt smirked. He was pretty sure they’d be for Alyss, the clever and elegant Courier’s apprentice of Lady Pauline, but he also knew that Will would never admit that in his presence._

_“Well, maybe you can pick some more for in the cabin? The ones we have need to be replaced.”_

_A small nod from Will made clear he would do that._

It took some time, but in the end, Will did open his eyes and looked at the Ranger.

“G-Gil, w-what happened?”

He looked around, noticing it was- wait, was it already dark outside? How long had he been sleeping?

Gilan, relieved to see that the trick worked, laid the flower aside on the nightstand.

“You’ve been sleeping the whole afternoon. At first I wanted to wake you up, but then I decided to let you sleep. You hadn’t gotten enough last night, so I thought it’d be good to let you wake up by yourself.”

He was silent for a moment, glancing at the boy’s eyes. They seemed dull, without the spark that had always been there. It made him quite sad, seeing how Will was suffering and how, in a way, it was all his fault.

“Gilan, why didn’t you visit us earlier? I had sent you a lot of letters, but never got a reply. And at the Gathering, you seemed to… dodge me. Did- did I do something wrong? D-do you hate me?”

He did his best to hold back his tears, but he couldn’t. He had missed Gilan terribly, even more when his friend never showed up.

Gilan was shocked to hear what Will said.

“Me? Hating you? Will, of course I don’t hate you. I couldn’t make it, because I had to take care of other things.”

“But you always wrote back to Halt,” told him, his tears falling down. “You wrote to him, but not to me. Then there must’ve been something that you don’t like about me. Are you mad I ruined the mission in Celtica? Or that I wasn’t strong enough to get away from Skandia?”

With every question, he saw how Gilan shook his head. It was none of this, but what was it then. A sudden fear overwhelmed the young apprentice.

“Don’t you want to be friends anymore?”

He had been prepared for a lot of questions, but this one left him in shock.

“Not wanting to be- Will, of course I still see you as a friend. I wouldn’t want to miss you. I missed you a lot when you were away and every day I wished I could reverse time and make sure you were safely here in Redmont Fief.”

To his surprise, his vision had become blurry, but he soon realised it was because of his own tears.

“Don’t be mad at yourself, it wasn’t your fault that I was enslaved,” Will said. He had calmed down and was now leaning on one elbow. “I-I survived and will be alright, eventually.”

“But at what cost? I can never forgive myself for what they’ve done to you. If I had reacted differently, if I had gone by myself, then they wouldn’t have hurt my little brother.”

His last words surprised them both. He had felt protective about Will since the moment they met and, even if he wasn’t sure how Will thought about it, he saw the young lad as his brother.

Meanwhile, Will couldn’t believe his words. Did Gilan really-? Before he knew it, he was sitting, looking at the Ranger who was getting up. He dusted off his pants and headed towards the door, feeling quite embarrassed.

“Maybe you can try to get some more sleep? Or you can rest a bit more and I call you for dinner once it’s done.”

Will knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep now. His brain would trick him more, he knew that already. He swallowed and took several breaths before asking Gilan the question.

“Would you mind to stay with me?”

A bit flabbergasted, the tall Ranger accepted the request, taking off his boots and laying next to Will. The boy turned around and embraced Gilan. He on his turn did the same, making sure Will would feel safe and protected.

“Thank you for coming and taking care of me,” Will yawned, closing his eyes and slowly falling asleep.

Gilan ran his fingers through the brown hair and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

“You’re more than welcome, Will.”

Will smiled.

“I love you, big brother.”

Gilan hugged him slightly tighter.

“I love you too, little brother.”


End file.
